Medicare Changes...

From 1st November, the Bulk billing incentive comes into effect. The new incentive item (the triple) is 75870, and will apply for:

• Face-to-Face items: 23, 36, 44
• Telehealth items: 91800, 91891

The base load item (10990) will STILL apply to:

• Face-to-face items: 3
• Telehealth items: 91790, 91801, 91802
• All CARE PLAN items (721,723,732; 2712, 2713, 2715 and 2717, all FPS items) and their telehealth equivalents

Best Practice's next data update for November (expected to arrive from 9pm on 31st Oct) will include this items, as well as an automation to apply the correct incentive to the applicable item.

• PLEASE NOTE: save for a handful of telehealth items, MyMedicare registration does not yet affect the application of the incentive for the abovementioned items; rather, it affects access to a base MBS item (ie extended C/D video or phone) and corresponding incentive.

MyMedicare Registration is now open for all patients. At present, the system is yet to provide more than access to certain telehealth items for registered patients (with these items requiring to be bulk-billed), but the promie of centralising access to reults and other information at their registered practice. If a patient expresses interest in registering, please message me in Teams with their name and I'll make the necessary arrangements. Otherwise, patients are able to do so via the Medicare Express App.



New Medicare Items...

From 1st November, new MBS items for extended telehealth consultations are:

• 91802 - Level D Telehealth (Video)
• 91920 - Level E Telehealth (Video)
• 91900 - Level C Telehealth (Phone)
• 91910 - Level D Telehealth (Phone)

In addition, there is a new level E face to face attendance item:

• 123 - Level E Attendance (Face to Face)

Please note that in order for patients to access these items, they MUST be registered for MyMedicare with CSMP and/or a GP at this site. The triple incentive applies to these items, and at this point, bulk billing these is implicit, although not currently mandated.

As a result of the new items, the MBS descriptors for Levels B, C and D attendances (both telehealth and face-to-face) will include a maximum time length where one may not have existed previously - ion particular, Both MBS Item 23 and telehealth equivalent now state a minimum time of 6 minutes in the descriptor.

The MBS Quick Reference Guide has now been updated to include these items. Please check the Teams General Channel for more information!

Practice Workflow Changes/Improvements...

The Practice Event Calendar for 2024 is now available, with some new inclusions:

• There are several Practice Development activities throughout the calendar to help clinicians and practice staff better use the tools at their disposal in terms of technology and practice communications.
• These sessions are entirely voluntary, so please feel free to delete from your Best Practice list if you don't wish to attend. They will be both hybird sessions (both virtual and in-person for those on-site).

The calendar can be viewed below:

• Phone Call (.BBTELE) Firstly, the old style telephone will automatically send an SMS to the patient (see image 2) requesting a 'Y' reply for them to assign benefit to their GP (bulk-bill). These need to be entered into the appointment book in order for a response to be visible (either a GREEN dot if agreed, or a RED dot if not. PLEASE NOTE: these are not 'appointments', as they simply send an SMS indicated that '[your GP]' would like to contact you today. This is typically the 'follow-up of results' call. For patients that have requested a telehealth service (either at booking or at confirmation), the completed confirmation form suffices for written consent for the time being. Also note that if a patient does NOT respond, this cannot be billed.
• Telehealth PHONE (.TELE) - this is standard telephone telehealth service; patients either book intentionally or request this service at confirmation (swapping from in-person). Similarly with Telehealth VIDEO.
• Telehealth Phone/Video (.PHCON) - this is used for patients that have NOT had an in-person attendance in the last 12 months (excepting COVID positive, ATSI or mental health patients)

At present, our confirmation form provides 'consent' to some extent, although it will like be modified as this situation develops. Given the coming changes to incentive items as well as the Department's current resources, an audit for telehealth is very low on their list of priorities.

Nevertheless, I'll keep working to make sure our solutions and workflows are viable and compliant as this evolves.

MBS Item Eligibility - REPRINT...

There are a couple of options for checking this:

• Use PRODA: using the eligibility item checker allows you to confirm if a patient is eligible for a new plan or review (please note: admin staff no longer have access to this function in PRODA).
• Check the Billing History: if you trust that the patient ONLY attends this practice and no others, verifying in the billing history can effectively check. A NEW MHCP can only be billed 365 days after the LAST MHCP billing; it is also not required for patients to access sessions if an MHCP has EVER been billed in their history.
• Check the My Health Record: from within the patient file, push CRTL + F9, then select Medicare Overview - All:

when the form opens, push CRTL+F and enter 'mental' to confirm when the last mental health item was billed.

CSMP Christmas!

Yes! It really IS that late in the year!

We'll be returning to Aqua Luna in Drummoyne this year on Sunday, 10th December from 12pm.

Please click on the button below to RSVP!